David Dahlborn, a third-year history student and one of the campaigners, reckons the rising rents “will lead to a growing student debt crisis” and says the blame for increasing costs lies at least partly with new specialist private providers of student accommodation, who are in the business for profit. He says: “The private sector is pushing rents up year after year, and universities like UCL are pushing their rent up as well.”

Building and providing student accommodation is a growing sector of the property market. Investors have been piling in, including private equity firms, to take advantage of the boom in purpose-built student housing. A record £6bn was invested in it last year – more than in north America, according to law firm Addleshaw Goddard.

Investors are attracted by the high income returns due to strong demand: students numbers are rising every year and there is a shortage of adequate accommodation.

Some of the accommodation now being built is a world away from Max Rayne House and traditional student halls. They include studio flats or en suite rooms with luxury showers, fast broadband, kitchens with stainless steel appliances and dishwashers, 24-hour security, on-site gyms and cinemas.

And they charge rents way out of the budget of most students. Overlooking Westminster Bridge in central London, Urbanest’s silver-clad oval tower bears a closer resemblance to an office block. It opened in September and houses 1,140 students over 18 floors, with a gym and swimming pool in the basement.

There’s also a 33-storey skyscraper built by American private equity firm Blackstone in the City of London that houses up to 1,140 students. It has a bar and lounge on the top floors, along with a gym, library, cafes, post room, cinema, games and karaoke rooms. En suite rooms in two-bedroom apartments start at £265 a week and go up to £495. Single studio flats are £385-£699 a week.

Hollie Packman, a third-year chemistry student at UCL, says: “I know very few people apart from international students who could afford that.”

Student accommodation at the University of East London. Photograph: Nic Hamilton/Alamy

She pays £150 rent a week for a two-bed council flat in Camden shared by four people. A lot of London students have to live far out and commute to university, she says.

The new private residences are popular with overseas and postgraduate students, who are more likely to be able to afford them, especially in central London. At Urbanest, less than a third of residents are British, 13% are American and 12% Chinese.

Last week, US investment bank Goldman Sachs set up a new student housing venture called Vero Group. It is combining Wellcome’s student housing, which Wellcome has been investing in since 2007, with units already owned by property fund Greystar. Vero starts with a portfolio of 23,500 beds in 25 towns and an ambition to become the UK’s leading student accommodation provider.

The biggest such company currently is the FTSE 250 listed Unite Group, with 46,000 beds across the UK. It charges up to £230 a week in central London and £120-£140 in the regions. Studios in central London, however, cost £350 or more a week. Chief executive Mark Allan compares it to running a large-scale hotel business. “The operators are more professional and better capitalised [than in the past]. That’s better for universities and students.”

Shelly Asquith, the National Union of Students’ vice-president for welfare, says that the private sector is on track to become the main supplier of purpose-built student accommodation nationally by 2018 – it already is in London – and wants to ensure it caters for all students, not just wealthy ones. She is worried about the growth of studio flats, particularly in London.

“This is the most expensive student accommodation being provided in the centre of one of the most expensive cities in the world: of course it is nice, but is it really serving an educational need?” Asquith says.

“What is certain is that it is pulling rent levels to new heights – well over £10,000 a year for a small studio flat. We may be at the point where enough is enough.”